Disney’s streaming service has won, and it hasn’t even launched yet- Disney will launch its streaming service in 2019. Disney CEO Bob Iger said it will be cheaper than Netflix, with fewer titles but from Disney's top level properties, though he said pricing could reflect volume over time, so expect price increases. It will have original shows made specifically for the service including a live-action Star Wars show, a Marvel show, a Monsters Inc. show and one based on High School Musical. Disney will also make 4-5 films a year specifically for the new service.

Star Wars is getting an all-new trilogy from Rian Johnson- LucasFilm announced that Rian Johnson will create a new Star Wars trilogy and write and direct the first movie of it. The trilogy will be separate from the Skywalker saga and introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored. No release dates or other information were released.

Philips is the latest TV manufacturer to partner with streaming powerhouse Roku- Roku had its first earnings report since going public and it was a good one- 124.8 million in net revenue beat expectations of $110.5 mm and above last year's $89 mm- Adjusted losses of 10 cents a share beat last years loss of 17 cents. Net loss was $46.2 million. Loss from operations was $7.9 million- Advertising more than doubled year over year- 1 in 5 smart TVs sold in the U.S. are Roku TVs- Active accounts for the quarter totaled 16.7 million, up 48% year-over-year- Users streamed 3.8 billion hours in the quarter, up 58% from the same period last year.- Roku acquired audio Startup Dynastrom in September (Variety just noticed the regulatory filing)- Indicates Roku might jump into intelligent multi-room audio a la Amazon Echo and Sonos.- Roku has been working on far-field mics- Monday announced a partnership with Philips, which becomes the seventh television brand to feature the excellent Roku TV operating system

Amazon confirms a 'Lord of the Rings' TV series is in the works- Amazon announced it has indeed acquired the global TV rights to Lord of the Rings and intends to produce a multiseason TV series in cooperation with New Line Cinema, The Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins. The series will explore storylines preceding the Fellowship of the Ring, and included a possible spinoff series.

Amazon Developing a free, ad-supported version of Prime Video- AdAge reports Amazon is developing a free ad-supported version of its Prime video streaming service. AdAge says Amazon is considering giving content creators their own channels and sharing ad revenue in exchange for a set amount of content per week.

Sling TV gains help Dish ride out Maria losses- Dish network lost fewer than expected video subscribers in Q3 thanks to Sling TV. The company had to write off 145,000 subscribers fees because of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. That brought overall pay TV subscribers down 129,000 on the quarter but the company says it added 16,000 subscribers in mainland US. Dish didn't report Sling TV subscribers separately but analysts at Evercore estimate Dish added between 224 and 226,000 Sling TV subs.

HBO launches Soderbergh’s choose-the-order storytelling app and show Mosaic- HBO launched a show on the app Mosaic for Apple TV and iOS which lets viewers decide the viewing order and perspective of a 7.5-hour murder mystery miniseries from Steven Soderbergh, starring Sharon Stone. The information doesn't change as you progress only the perspective and what you see. HBO will air it's own linear cut of the series on January 22. Mosaic is made by PodOp with HBO funding.

Dispatches from the Front

Hi Brian & Tom,

I've been an avid listener to your show since the TWiT days.

Louis CK recently was accused of sexual misconduct by 5 women. Despite not being found guilty, HBO quickly removed his content from their online streaming service.

While convenience might trump fidelity, I would say owning a physical copy easily trumps the whims of a streaming services. With the current culture of today, I have a feeling a lot more content is going to be pulled from online services before this black cloud over Hollywood has ended.

At least I know that whatever I own is safe no matter what the actor or actress has done in their private life. What are your thoughts?

Keep up the good work.

- Tim

Dear Tom and Brian,

Your Boss (Roy Hobbs) normally from rainy Seattle but checking in from Sunny Bora Bora while on vacation. Just wanted to let you know using the hack you two talked about on a previous show I have downloaded the 1st 8 episodes of Star Trek Discovery on Netflix which I will happily binge FOR FREE when I get home. You guys did a good job. Take the rest of the week off!

- Roy

I'm a bit behind on shows, but wanted to comment on items discussed in the most recent shows I've listened to.

First is about the availability of the DC comics based shows on the CW, I believe mentioned by Bryce. Asof writing, all of these shows along with iZombie and Agents of SHIELD, are on the Netflix streaming service. Granted, you have to wait some time after the season is over, anywhere from a few weeks to a month or so, but all episodes from the previous seasons are available (note, there is a recommended order for the Invasion crossover, grin).

- Paul

Hey Tom, Brian, and guests,

I was very intrigued by the Moviepass idea and ordered one within the first few days of the price drop. I was not a very active movie goer before Moviepass, I only could justify the $12/ticket price about twice a year. Now I see a movie almost every week, but I buy tickets almost everyday...

My local theater is run by Regal Cinemas, and they have an awards program called Regal Crown Club. Every dollar spent is the equivalent of 100 points, and after visiting (buying tickets) 20 times in a year you get an extra 1,000 points per visit.

My office is connected to our towns mall where the movie theater is located. Almost everyday on my lunch break I'll walk over to Regal's kiosk and buy a ticket to a movie I'm not interested in seeing purely to bank the reward points.

As you can imagine I have accumulated points very rapidly. These points can be used for concessions, merch, or movie tickets. I'm sure not that many people are using Moviepass like this, but at least 3 or 4 within my office are (I'm to blame).

Without Moviepass partnering with the theaters to record when tickets are actually being used, it will be hard to prevent people like me from taking them up on the offer to buy a ticket a day. My $10 a month is costing Moviepass upwards of $200 and is fully paying for my concessions each week.

Thanks for all of the podcasts you both do, I've enjoyed listening to Tom's insights since BOL and more recently getting to "know" Brian.

- Joshua

Keep this trick quiet. I subscribe to Netflix disc service,I get 2 Blu Rays at a time . I put them into my optical drive and use VUDU’s disc to digital service and for $4 I get an HD copy on VUDU, then with Movies Anywhere it upgrades it to 4k for free on my Apple TV .

Awesome and Legal

Your long time listener- John

Hello gentlemen,

I know you appreciate tl;dr’s so I’ll lead off with one before unloading several paragraphs and invariable causing Brian to sigh and roll his eyes.

TL;DR

1. Did y’all watch Orville Season 1 Episode 7 - Majority Rule? Hot damn, that was good. I could probably check Spoilerin’ Time, which brings me to 2...

2. I know we’re trying to gather more Patron’s for a breakdown of Spoilerin’ Time by show... can I just up my pledge to get us there faster?

3. I don’t recall if you’ve ever mentioned Halt and Catch Fire, or had it as part of your brackets, but if not you’re doing yourselves a disservice. It’s good, and it stuck the landing.